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Tatler, a British "society" magazine, claims to be the successor to Richard Steele's paper of the same name and consequently, the world's oldest magazine having been in production on and off since 1709, with a hiatus 1711 to 1901.

It carries articles on a broad number of topics, but its primary focus is on the social trends amongst the very wealthy and aristocratic. It is the oldest English language magazine currently in print. Tatler is currently edited by Geordie Greig, who was previously the Literary Editor of the Sunday Times.

History

The Tatler was founded in 1709 by Richard Steele who used for the purpose the nom de plume of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esquire, the first such consistent adopted persona. Steele's idea was to publish the news and gossip heard in London coffeehouses, hence the title. To assure complete coverage of local gossip, a reporter was placed in each of the city's popular coffeehouses, or at least such were the datelines: accounts of manners and mores were datelined from White's; literary notes from Will’s; notes of antiquarian interest were dated from the Grecian Coffee House; and news items from St. James’s.

In its first incarnation, it was published three times a week. The original Tatler was published for only two years, from April 12, 1709 to January 2, 1711. A collected edition was published in 1710–11, with the title The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq..

Three months after the original "Tatler" was first published, a Mrs Crackenthorpe published what was called the "Female Tatler." However, its run was much shorter: the magazine ran for less than a year - from July 8, 1709 to March 31, 1710.

There is some question as to whether the current glossy "society" magazine is related to the original Tatler. It is generally acknowledged that the current edition began publishing in 1901. For some time, a weekly publication, it was filled with news and pictures of high society balls, charity events, race meetings, shooting parties, fashion and gossip. Cartoons by “The Tout” and H. M. Bateman were featured regularly. From the 1940s until the early 1960s, the then-weekly magazine was entitled "Tatler & Bystander." In March 1968, the "Bystander" was dropped from the magazine's title, and it began to publish monthly.

The Modern Magazine

Editor Geordie Greig recently gave an interview in which he said that reading Tatler should be "like a fabulous journey in an incredible sports car ... you can go fast, you can go round the bend, you can go a bit mad, you can have pretty girls in it, you can stop at stately homes as well as go round to Monte Carlo. It should be a journey of speed and surprises". *

The Magazine also throws a number of large parties throughout the year. The two most important are the Tatler Summer Party, and the Tatler Little Black Book Party. The Tatler Little Black Book is an annual list published by the magazine of the country's 100 Most Eligible Men and Women.

The Bystander section is now made up primarily of photographs of a small number of exclusive private parties. This section is edited by Tatler's social editor, Clare Milford Haven (the wife of the Marquess of Milford Haven) and by the photographer Hugo Burnand.

Today, the magazine is owned and operated by Condé Nast Publications.

Writers

A number of famous people have worked on the magazine, in both of its incarnations:

18th century

Modern magazine

External links

Fashion magazines | British magazines

Tatler | The Tatler

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Tatler".

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